Download Transport and Environment Committee

London Councils’ Transport and Environment
Committee
Briefing to Support a Presentation by
Isabel Dedring on the Mayor of
London’s Climate Change Programmes
Report by:
Jared Boow
Job title:
Date:
11 June 2009
Contact Officer:
Jared Boow
Telephone:
020 7934 9951
Item 8
No:
Policy and Project Manager (Environment)
Email:
[email protected]
Summary:
This report supports the presentation to be delivered by Isabel Dedring,
The Mayor’s Director of Environment. It briefs members on the priority
areas of work that the Mayor is taking forward and provides context for
discussions with the Mayor’s Environment Advisor.
Recommendations:
Members are recommended to:

Note the areas of work outlined in the report, including London
Councils’ and boroughs’ involvement.
(i) Homes Retrofit Project.
1. London Councils, London Futures (formerly London Collaborative), the GLA and the LDA are
working together to develop and deliver a pan-London Homes Retrofit Programme to retrofit
existing homes. It will be a comprehensive programme of measures to achieve significant carbon
savings in London’s domestic housing sector through economies of scale, joining up funding
programmes, joint lobbying, and partnership working.
2. Homes are responsible for a significant proportion of CO2 emissions in London, accounting for
38% of emissions if aviation is excluded. Many boroughs are looking to make significant CO 2
savings through their local area agreement targets, and the Mayor has recently made a
commitment to a large scale retrofit of Londoners’ homes to help meet his target of a 60%
reduction in CO2 emissions by 2025.
3. There are already many schemes in London that will deliver some sort of retrofitting measures to
approximately 30,000 homes this year, but there is now widespread recognition that this level of
activity will not be enough to deliver quick, significant and necessary reductions in greenhouse
Mayor’s Climate Change Programmes (Presentation)
London Councils’ TEC – 11 June 2009
Agenda Item 8, Page 1
gas emissions from London’s homes. Modelling suggests that at current take up levels, such
schemes will only deliver in total around 1 million tonnes of carbon savings between now and
2015. By 2025, emissions from homes need to be reduced by 7.7 million tonnes, of which 3.9
million tonnes is estimated to be achievable through more comprehensive retrofitting (the
remainder being from new build and improvements in energy supply to homes).
4. The project presents significant opportunities to realise a range of benefits, above and beyond
CO2 reduction, being:
 to offer the potential to deliver some benefit to all London households regardless of tenure
 to implement energy efficiency measures in 1.8 million London homes
 to reduce carbon emissions, on average, by 8% by 2015 across London, contributing
significantly towards meeting targets in current Local Area Agreements and their likely
successors
 to increase the level of spend by energy utilities on energy efficiency in London to over £100m
per annum (equating to 2-3 times the current spend level), with an associated increase in
levels of economic activity
 to create over 2,000 jobs for Londoners
 to reduce annual fuel bills by at least £60 per household, or up to £150 where loft and cavity
wall insulation is installed (between 5% and 12% of the average household’s fuel bill)
 to create certainty and scale for installers, therefore delivering economies of scale and
enabling the sector to ramp up its activity
 and, to deliver a genuine London-wide partnership project between boroughs and the GLA.
5. The proposed joint scheme is two phased with ‘Phase 1’ offering ‘10 easy measures’ to all
London households, backed up by an expansion of existing cavity wall and loft insulation
schemes delivered to suitable homes (approximately one third of London homes). This will be
followed by ‘Phase 2’ which will deliver ‘harder’ measures such as solid wall insulation, and
energy efficient appliances such as boilers to qualifying households or those wishing to pay a
discounted rate.
6. The programme intends to reach 60% of London households over a five year period. The initial
contact with households to deliver ’10 easy measures’ will be used to assess the suitability of
each building for insulation and other carbon reduction measures, and to provide a platform for
creating behaviour change in the use of energy, as well as providing referrals to borough benefits
uptake teams.
7. It is the intention of the partners to develop by April 2010 a viable plan to deliver a London-wide
programme up to 2015. A number of deliverables are intended between now and April 2010 to
assist this, with actions broadly falling into three areas:
 Demonstrating the concept at a pilot-scale
 Development and roll-out of a pan-London scheme informed by the pilots
 Lobbying government to ensure that London receives a fair share of funding.
8. In 2009/10 the partners plan to deliver a number of demonstration projects to up to 25,000 homes
through existing borough-led home insulation schemes, and will be funded primarily by
development money from the LDA. Additional money is being sought from HCA and from the
energy utilities (as part of their delivery of their carbon reduction obligation). If boroughs are able
to contribute additional funds e.g. from their Targeted Funding Stream funds, then larger scale
demonstration project will be feasible.
9. In parallel, work on the longer term development of a pan-London retrofit scheme will occur,
drawing on emerging lessons learned from the demonstration projects. The aim is to commence
Mayor’s Climate Change Programmes (Presentation)
London Councils’ TEC – 11 June 2009
Agenda Item 8, Page 2
implementation of a large scale pan-London scheme around September 2010. The precise form
of the scheme will be worked up during 2009/10.
10. Leaders Committee received a report and a presentation on this scheme at its meeting on 9
June.
(ii) Low Carbon Zones.
11. On 1 May, the Mayor formally invited applications for ‘Low Carbon Zones’ by committing at least
£200,000 funding for each zone. The low carbon zones will be funded by the London
Development Agency, and private sponsorship will also be sought to help fund the programme.
The zones will have a target to deliver 20.12% of carbon emissions savings by 2012 and will
bring together local authorities, community organisations, residents, businesses and utilities to
work in partnership in a targeted geographic area.
12. The zones are expected to include a range of carbon-cutting measures in homes,
neighbourhoods, businesses and public buildings such as:
 Home insulation
 Smart meters to help people regulate their energy use
 Retrofit packages for public and commercial buildings
 Decentralised energy plants to produce heat and electricity locally
 Renewable energy sources such as solar panels
 State of the art facilities to use waste as a clean fuel source.
13. It is expected that amongst the zones will be inner and outer London areas. They will contain a
mix of building types and tenures, communities and businesses. Each zone will be larger than a
single street, but contain no more than 1,000 buildings.
14. The GLA will provide programme management, co-ordination, learning opportunities and a
gateway to GLA group carbon saving programmes, private sector funding and opportunities for
economies of scale in project management and procurement. There is an opportunity to lever
significant additional funds and resources from energy suppliers and other partners to deliver
both immediate and longer-term carbon savings in a low carbon zone. Applications for the low
carbon zones close on 31 July 2009, with successful applicants announced in September 2009.
The programme will then run until July 2012.
(iii) Electric Vehicles.
15. The Mayor wants London to become a world leader in electric vehicle usage and has pledged to
make London the electric car capital of Europe by achieving at least 100,000 electric vehicles on
the capital’s streets as soon as possible helping to stimulate the UK’s electric vehicle market,
create ‘green collar’ jobs, cut carbon emissions and improve air quality.
16. On 19 May 2009 he launched his Electric Vehicle Implementation Plan, which pledges to work
with London’s borough councils, central government, public and private sectors to make London
a leading centre of electric vehicles.
17. The London Electric Vehicle Partnership (LEVP) has been established as a result of a Mayoral
manifesto commitment to establish a partnership to promote electric vehicle usage in London.
The aims of the LEVP are to:
 Develop an action plan for the greater use of electric vehicles in London
Mayor’s Climate Change Programmes (Presentation)
London Councils’ TEC – 11 June 2009
Agenda Item 8, Page 3




Develop and share best practice
Develop and share a common process and technical standards, particularly across the
capital’s boroughs
Increase the level of support for users of electric vehicles
Coordinate resources to achieve the best possible value for money.
18. The Mayor’s proposals for electric vehicle roll out have a number of implications for boroughs and
London Councils, the most significant of which are:
 Plans to significantly increase the number of charging points in London, particularly in the light
of borough concerns about on-street provision. There is considerable concern around health
and safety, especially trailing cables, tripping hazards, the potential impacts of vandalism, the
impact of charging points on the local streetscape and the maintenance implications, as well
as the problem of adding to on-street parking, which would be especially contentious in
controlled parking zones. A number of boroughs have taken a decision not to provide onstreet charging points.
 The role that boroughs and/or London Councils could play in the introduction of a Londonwide membership scheme.
 The need for London-wide branding and signage for electric vehicle infrastructure. There
would be significant benefits in a standard London-wide electric vehicles sign.
 The extent to which boroughs want to contribute to measures to increase the proportion of
electric vehicles in the public sector fleet by introducing electric vehicles in their own fleets
(currently only a very small proportion of borough vehicles are electric).
 The Mayor’s keenness to provide incentives to encourage the take-up of electric vehicle use
and in particular his desire for a consistent and simplified range of parking incentives.
19. A separate report (Item 11) further detailing electric vehicle plans for London has been produced
separately for this TEC meeting.
Recommendations.
20. Members are recommended to:
 Note the areas of work outlined in the report, including London Councils’ and boroughs’
involvement.
Financial Implications.
21. There are no significant financial implications for London Councils from this report.
Legal Implications.
22. There are no significant legal implications for London Councils from this report.
Equalities Implications.
23. There are no significant equalities implications for London Councils from this report.
Mayor’s Climate Change Programmes (Presentation)
London Councils’ TEC – 11 June 2009
Agenda Item 8, Page 4